Former Evening Express Editor Dies

A former editor of the Aberdeen Evening Express, Bob Smith – who followed the classic path of copy boy to the top job – has died in hospital in Aberdeen, aged 84, after a long illness.

Bob, whose son, Graeme, is the Aberdeen-based staffman of The Herald, was one of Scotland’s longest-serving editors – at the helm of the Granite City’s evening newspaper from 1962 until he took early retirement in 1984.

A fiercely proud Aberdonian, he began his working life in the commercial department of Aberdeen Journals – becoming a copy boy then a messenger in the sub-editors’ department.